Greece in the 1935-1941 time frame and those of the Bank of Greece during the German-Italian occupation, as it is among these issues that the anomalies are to be found.

Aside from the many nuances of color variation found on all notes throughout this series, I have broken down these anomalies, or inconsistencies, into seven groups:

1.

Error notes

2.

Revaluation overprints

3.

Picture title inconsistencies

4.

Watermarks

5.

Under-print inconsistencies

6.

Basic color changes

7.

Identical serial numbers

Table 1 enumerates the various inconsistencies to be found on Kingdom of Greece inflation bank notes, as well as the serial number colors and varieties which are explained later on in this article.

First let me describe an error note which is the only instance of this kind to occur on a Greek bank note to my knowledge. The note in question is the Bank of Greece 500 drachma of 1939. The error occurs below the written denomination which is located at the center of the note. The first line of text beneath the denomination box contains four words, the second of which should read epsilon pi iota (EΠI). In the error note this is displayed as epsilon nu iota (ENI). The note is the product of the printer Bradbury Wilkinson and and Company of London. This error is not particularly rare but does demand a premium over non-error notes. I have never heard of an explanation as to how this inconsistency came to be.

There is also only one instance in which a bank note was overprinted to increase its value. This occurred on the 100 drachma note of 1939 which never found its way into circulation. In 1940 these unissued notes were withdrawn from the Bank of Greece treasury vaults and overprinted as 1,000 drachma. Presumably this was done because the 1,000 drachma notes then in circulation had been printed in England and it was impossible, due to the war, to order additional replacement stocks.

The fact that there was a shortage of currency circulating in Greece at the time is attested to by the fact that an emergency re-issue of notes took place in 1941. Old Bank of Greece notes which had been hole punched and were awaiting destruction were brought back into circulation to alleviate the shortage. These notes, as can be imagined were all well worn examples. These tattered notes remained in circulation for about a year before being replaced with a new issue in 1942. Some specimens bear hand-stamps